Trick Or Treat (1986) ***1/2

Charles Martin Smith's Trick Or Treat (1986) is a really fun metal riff (sorry, had to) on Nightmare On Elm Street and Carrie (1976) (review). I only first saw the film five years ago and I liked it more on this rewatch (it helped that Red Shirt Pictures/Synapse Films' 4K UHD looks and sounds gorgeous). As an adult, the movie is a little goofy at times and certainly plays it by the book, but I can tell that if I had seen this when I was young I would have totally loved it. 

I do wish TOT went for the gusto a bit more, but I also appreciate how the picture takes its time setting up characters and there are some wonderful moments of quiet menace. Most of those characters are admittedly tropey, but Marc Price is perfectly cast and relatable as a bullied outsider and Tony Fields, also perfectly cast, is a blast as rocker Sammi Curr. TOT features some really nice cinematography by Robert Elswit, who went on to an illustrious, Academy Award-winning, career (including shooting almost every Paul Thomas Anderson feature film). Kevin Yagher lends the picture some great practical effects, though I do wish there was a bit more of them. Fastway provides a killer glam metal/hard rock soundtrack. No false metal!